When Life-Supporting Interventions Lead to Moral Distress.

Moral distress can impact nurses and the care team significantly. A profession dedicated to the principles of caring and compassion is often subjected to patients receiving futile treatment. With the proliferation of extreme life-prolonging measures come the difficulties in the withdrawal of those medical modalities.

Porphyria: A Rare, Complicated, and Misdiagnosed Disease.

Diagnosis of porphyria is often difficult due to the range of symptoms, which are common in many other disorders, hence frequently leading to misdiagnosis. Attacks can be triggered through sunlight and contact with diverse substances, including medications. Signs are severe, appear quickly, and tend to last from days to weeks, affecting the skin, mentation, the digestive, cardiovascular, nervous, and muscular system.

Blood Conservation: Exploring Alternatives to Blood Transfusions.

The conservation of blood products and the use of alternatives to blood transfusion are the best practice. Patients treated with blood conservation techniques will have a reduced risk of blood-borne diseases and a reduced risk of human error that can occur during blood processing. The bedside nurse plays a vital role in educating the patient and the caregiver regarding risks, benefits, and alternatives.

Clinical Simulation Learning in Critical Care.

Nurses are expected to master many skills, especially in critical care; thus, competency is crucial. Clinical educators must determine whether nurses who are new to the skill set have attained an acceptable level of achievement in performance; hence, are they capable of providing quality and safe patient care? Simulation learning is used in the hospital setting and largely in academic centers. Strategies include for the instructor to acquire an aspect of abilities and deficits as a basis upon which to create learning experiences that enable nurses to develop essential clinical competence.